Duality
by Rainkalen Warrior
Summary: Aeris has been living two lives: one in SOLDIER, and one selling flowers. Haunted by her mysterious past, her life is about to change forever. But for the better or the worse, it is unclear. An Aeris and Sephiroth story.
1. The Destruction of Sector 7

DUALITY

CHAPTER I

In the place where the sky should have been, there was only darkness. A gagging scent hung in the air, of burning flesh and smoldering steel. The ground was covered with fragments of metal and other sorts of flaming wreckage; anything that had once been apart of the humble scrap that served as the foundation of the Sector 7 slums.

She stood there, amongst the flaming wreckage, her combat rifle slung across her back. The fierce neon glow of Mako from the nearby reactor was captured in her emerald eyes, even beneath the darkened visor of her helmet. Her gaze had long ago become transfixed upon the remains of the Sector 7 gate, and the molten wreckage wedged within it. It was folly, she knew, but she had spent the last few moments struggling to assure herself that it was all a bad dream. The destruction, the loss, the death count. She wanted to convince herself they were all elements of a nightmare, one that would flee like a shadow when the sun rose.

But somewhere, far above, the midday sun was gleaming, and all the while, reality basked in its glory directly before her eyes.

As the survivors passed her, she did not miss the icy glare of indifference glazed over their eyes, nor the paralyzing stares of hatred they cast in her general direction. She smirked at the irony. The people that filtered past her, from their matted hair, to their singed clothing, to their tired features-she knew them all. She saw them everyday. The woman that passed her now, scowling horribly at her from the corner of her eye-she had just sold her a flower yesterday, asked how her son was doing the day before that.

Aeris Gainsborough felt trapped. She could not take off her helmet, and regard them with her bare face, for they would recognize her. She could not speak, in fear these people would acknowledge her voice. Inside her helmet, she felt like a child locked in a closet, screaming her head off to get out of the darkness. But that closet no longer had a door; it had vanished long ago when she had agreed to live two lives.

Aeris stood there, still as a statue. She firmly decided that she would not move until the commander called the troops to a dismissal. Anxiety plagued her, feeding on what little energy three hours of sleep had granted her the previous night. She wanted to leave. She had a nagging feeling that these people had the ability to see right through her helmet. They were glaring at her because they knew her secret. The fact that she was from Shinra had nothing to do with it. They hated her because she had turned on them.

_No, _she responded to her fears. _They don't recognize me. They can't, I look like a man...like everyone else..._

And indeed she did. Though her restless mind would not allow the belief, it was true that to all the passer-by, she was just another figure, clad in the well-known blue armor of SOLDIER. It was impossible to identify her as a woman, in the shapeless uniform. It broadened her shoulders and made her look all the more like a man.

"Aeris!"

A man's harsh voice broke through the air, which was filled with chatter and quiet sobbing. Aeris straightened immediately upon recognizing the tone, as if she were suddenly being awakened from a deep slumber. One thought leapt into the helm of her mind: not to let _him_ see her like this.

She turned to face him as he approached. Aeris surprised herself by laughing when he tapped on her tinted face shield with his gloved fingers. "That _is_ you in there, right?" he asked.

She crossed her arms over her chest, her wide grin suppressed from the man's vision. She felt guilty for smiling, felt it was a crime. "Maybe it is," she said mockingly, "And maybe it isn't."

Aeris stared up at him. He was good few inches taller than her. He held his helmet loosely in his left hand, and the radiant golden hair that the helm had concealed was now flattened against his pale forehead in a mess of sweat. Mako blue eyes beneath raised blonde eyebrows peered at her amusedly.

The SOLDIER shrugged, maintaining his smug pose as his voice hardened in a teasing seriousness. "Well, let me know when you decide. I was told to tell you when we're free to go, but if you want to stay, I guess I can live with that." He looked around him, at the rubble, at the untouched scrap metal lining the narrow path that led away to the infamous Wall Market. "You live around here, right? Should be fine." He turned to go.

She rolled her eyes. "Cloud Strife, sarcasm simply isn't you. It doesn't work. You're a terrible liar."

"Ah. Well, Aeris Gainsborough," Cloud Strife said, turning and cracking a smile, "I can't say you're much better."

She stepped back, acting surprised. "What do you mean?" she asked him, tipping her head sideways.

Cloud sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I...don't know what I mean. If I get started talking about it, all you'll do is deny everything, so I guess its not worth it..."

Aeris laughed. "Yes. You're right about that."

It was amazing how fast her mood had changed. But she realized the reality of her living terror had only been contained in the back of her mind. Sorrow and stress were emotions only waiting to be unleashed again, but they would not attack her now. Not when Cloud was here.

They faced each other, the brief moment of humor extinguished. In an effort to bring the lightheartedness back into existence, Aeris reached up to his face, her groan of disgust stifled by her helmet, but still entirely legible. Her fingers began shoving the strands of hair away from his face, but he caught her hand and shoved it away as he began ruffling through the tresses himself, tucking the loose locks behind his ears in a disheveled and careless manner.

After a moment, Cloud stood before her, holding his arms out and expecting praise. Aeris shook her head at him, smiling. "What's this about leaving? This better not have been urgent..."

"Don't worry," he assured her. "It wasn't. With the train station wiped out thanks to the plate coming down, we have to take the trucks to the upper level. I hate those trucks, I mean, the train is one thing, at least you can move around, but they cram us so tight in there...and Raleigh says it'll be another half hour until we leave _here_."

Aeris rolled her eyes, silently loathing the Shinra Commander as her gaze fell upon him, gathered amongst the other SOLDIERs in the distance. "We have to stick around longer? What on the Planet for, I wonder?"

"Oh, you know. The usual. Stick around to make sure everything's safe, give the people a feeling of security. But, there's not much we can do. Anyone whose got the brains to collapse the plate and get out alive has got to be well hidden by now." Cloud held out his fingers, bending one back into his palm. "So extermination of the enemy is certainly out of the question, and if its not, we're in the wrong place..." Cloud stared at Aeris. "Y'know, they're saying its AVALANCHE."

Aeris brought her hand up to her face in surprise, but the helmet she still wore defeated the purpose of the gesture. "No. Not again. Who is saying that?"

"Shinra, who else?"

"You don't believe them, do you?"

Cloud shook his head. "Of course not, I never do. But that doesn't mean they can't be right this time." He looked at her, his gaze intent. "Why don't you take off your helmet? Isn't it hot in that thing?"

Aeris sighed. Sweat had gathered so thickly on her brow that it had begun to drip into her eyes. She looked around her. All the survivors had passed through, now probably seeking shelter from other sectors. Deciding it was safe for the moment, and with an effort, she pulled the helmet from her head, careful not to snag the long, chestnut hair in the straps as it spilled from the helm. Emerald eyes, carved into a pale and beautiful face, burned brightly with a youthful glow that hadn't abandoned her as she had departed from her teenage years. She brushed her hair out of her eyes, taking a ribbon from a pocket in her uniform. She gathered the tresses together, twisted them in a loose but secure braid, and tossed the spiral over her shoulder. She was shaking her head while staring at the ground. "We shouldn't be taking off our gear until we get back to Headquarters. Its regulation."

At that, Cloud bowed his head, snorting at the sound of the word "regulation". He lowered his voice to a murmur. The wreckage around him, lined with fire, was captured in his sapphire eyes as they rose and looked above him. "Regulation. I've never gotten anywhere with regulation. All these years, and I'm still a foot soldier. I guess its my destiny."

"Don't say things like that," Aeris prompted, her soft voice full of pity. "You'll get your chance."

He looked at her, eyes full of gratitude, his face entirely serious, even for a moment. But then his familiar, cocky smile returned, and he dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Nah. It doesn't matter." He peered over his shoulder at the mass of SOLDIERs, now moving at a leisurely pace through the remains of a children's playground.

Aeris followed his gaze, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him along after her. "Come on, we'd better go."

She passed the playground equipment, memories flowing into her mind as she began to see herself, as a child, sitting on one of the rusty swings. She had been all alone, in those tender years of youth. Every day, she had left her house, taking her own private paths through the junk heaps until she reached the park. It had been there for so long, it was considered ancient. Her mother had said once that it had been there before the plate had been built, and when each sector still had its own name, and was only a village. She would sit on the old swing for hours, staring at the gate, waiting for other children to perhaps clamber onto the equipment with her, but none came. It was a forgotten part of the city, and to Aeris, it would always be her special place.

Cloud caught her intense gaze, and attempted to pull her out of her trance with a snap of his fingers. She jerked, then, and as he laughed at her sudden movement, she shoved him aside. Then her face was stricken with horror. "What time is it?" she demanded, suddenly stopping in her tracks.

Cloud took the moment to roll up the material on his sleeve and examine his watch. "About a quarter past five. Why?"

Her eyes were wide with horror. "I've got to go."

"What? You can't go!" Cloud said, narrowing his eyes at her. "Not again! When we go back for roll call, and you're not there...Raleigh'll go insane!"

"Can't you cover for me?"

Cloud bit his lower lip, and scrunched his face. "I don't know, he'd suspect me, maybe fire me..."

"He won't do that," Aeris assured him. "You're too good of a fighter. But, please Cloud, I'll do anything!" she said, anxious enough almost to the point of jumping up and down. Time had run out completely. She would be in for it now.

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Anything? Like what?" he offered, grinning.

Aeris thought for a moment. "Ah, I know. How about a date? You cover for me, I'll give you that date you've always wanted. I know you liked that girl back in your hometown, though..."

Cloud shook his head at her, the moment suddenly serious. "No. Forget about that. Hmm. All right. Deal. One date."

Aeris grinned. "Great! Here," she said, shoving her gun at him. "Put it back for me, will you? I'll see you later!" she dashed away, shoving the helmet back on her face.

Cloud waved at her. "I won't forget! Don't think I will!" He called to her as she disappeared through the outer gate, leading to Sector 5.

He chuckled to himself. A date. He expected something had been brewing between himself and Aeris, but he sure hadn't expected her to be the one to call the shots. She was always so quiet, so cautious. The aspect that she had made the offer out of desperation nagged at him, along with fact that she owed him something, and if they went somewhere together, it would only be because Aeris was fulfilling her debt. There was no concrete evidence that what he wanted truly did exist. But why had she fired that out, instead of just begging him until he agreed to it like she usually did?

But he knew the reason. It had been because just last night, he had been talking about...

Her.

The girl he had loved, and, for a long time, she was the only girl he thought he could ever love. But now...

He had left his small town of Nibelheim behind, left all the people there behind, including her. It was a lost dream, now. Something eaten away at and covered up by the passage of time. It was in the past. Nibelheim, his life there, everything about it, was in the past. And there was no use living in the past.

He stood alone in the park, now. All other SOLDIERs had gone. If he didn't hurry, _he _would be late, and the trucks would leave without him. As he was about to break into a sprint, a woman's voice, all too familiar, called to him.

"Cloud? Cloud! It can't be..."

The voice struck him with recognition, but it was aged. The voice he remembered had been fixed with all the tones of a child, permanently seared into his head, but there was no doubt that it was the same voice. And at the same time he knew it couldn't be true. It was impossible. He froze in place, fearing to turn around, afraid of what couldn't possibly exist.

But he turned, slowly, too stunned and paralyzed by curiosity to deny himself a simple glance.

His heart caught in his throat.

_Its her_.

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Aeris rushed through the filthy streets, out of breath but completely aware of the consequences if she were to lighten her pace. She was an hour late. She despised lying, it was a horrible sickness that had no cure, no matter the amount of dirt that was swept under the rug. Instead, she struggled to invent a reason for her lateness.

She felt a warm breeze blow in from the swamps that lay just outside the sector. The buzzing of flickering neon signs filled her ears as she passed the numerous merchant shops that lined the way to her home. The townspeople had all gathered outside of their deteriorating houses, and were huddled in front of the huge television screen a few local electricians had rigged in the center of the tiny village. The news anchor on the screen was buried in paper work concerning the destruction of Sector 7.

"According to the honorable President Shinra, the terrorist group AVALANCHE is to blame for this tragic incident," drawled the reporter. "Fortunately, the loss of life is said to be minimal, as many citizens managed to reach safety before the pillar collapsed..."

Excited murmurs and worried expressions filled the small crowd around the television. Their attention was focused on the anchor. Aeris used the opportunity to sneak by. She dashed through the area, into the cavern at the far end, near a rusty metal shack.

It was, as far as she knew, the only true house in the slums. It was two stories tall, and the paint around the door frame was chipping, but it was very clean and surrounded by flowers. No one, not even Aeris herself, could explain how or why the flowers grew around the house. But she was grateful to them. They were a useful alibi.

Carefully, she made her way behind the house, into a small wooden shed she used to keep her gardening tools in. Thankfully, there were no windows on this side of the house. Her mother never knew about her little metamorphosis that she always conducted before she came home. She began to shed herself of the heavy SOLDIER uniform, stuffing the contents in a plastic bin in the corner. She took a long pink dress from a peg on the wall, stepping into it and hastily fastening the buttons. Following this, she placed a short red jacket over it, shoving the heavy metal materia bracelets that clung to her wrists through the narrow sleeves. A pair of old, brown gardening boots sat in the corner. As they were several sizes too big for her, she slipped into them easily. At last, she took up the flower basket she had filled with fresh flowers this morning and hung it on her arm.

Aeris took a deep breath before leaving the shed and going to the front door of her house. She turned the knob, kicking the dirt off her boots as she did so.

"Mom?" she called, sticking her head in the doorway. The flower-filled house smelt rich with the pleasing scent of fresh bread, and she closed her eyes to enhance the scent as she inhaled it.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Elmyra Gainsborough came running to the door. "My Goodness! Aeris!" she exclaimed. "Come in, come in! I was so worried!"

"Mom, I'm okay...I'm only-"

The small woman crossed her arms across her chest, scowling. "An hour late."

Aeris bowed her head. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry."

Elmyra was a middle-aged woman, with a face softened by age and many years of immense loss. Many of the wives in Sector 5 had insisted that she had lived her life in the country, and the wrinkles on her face were from smiling so much. Elmyra would shake her head at the statement. She did smile a great deal, and her face was well indented, but most of the crevices on her face had in fact come from the harshness of city life. And the time when she had received the news that her husband had died. Aeris had sworn that she had aged ten years upon hearing the news. The news that had, unexplainably, been delivered by Aeris herself.

"What made you so late?" Elmyra asked, raising an eyebrow and dusting her hands on her white apron.

Aeris bit her lip. "Uh..."

"Oh, you know what, I bet it was the incident with Sector 7."

Aeris rapidly nodded her head, thanking fortune that she had a legible excuse this time. It kept her under wraps for just a little bit longer. "Yes, that's it exactly."

"You didn't...see anything gruesome, I hope."

"No. I tried to avoid it, but it was on the way home...I had to pass the gate. I saw it. It was...really bad." Those feelings of sadness came back to her. It scared her, how close the incident had been to her own home. If that AVALANCHE group decided to strike again...

Elmyra was already busying herself around the kitchen. Aeris set her basket of flowers on the table, and sat down, folding her hands in her lap. "You know, Mom, you should really consider moving up onto the plate."

"Oh, we can't do that dear. I can't afford it."

"But, Mom..."

Her mother walked over to her, taking one of Aeris's hands and clasping it in both of hers. "Aeris, we can't. We've...been really lucky these past twenty two years. And I'm beginning to think, well, actually, I _have_ been thinking, that this is really the safest place for you. They'll never find you here."

Aeris placed her head in her hands, groaning. "I know...I'm different...but why can they possibly want me?"

Elmyra looked at her bemusedly. "Are you asking me, or yourself?"

"Neither, I guess."

"We've been through this a million times throughout the years. You know there's something special about you, right?"

Aeris nodded. Her mind flowed back to the first time she could remember having this discussion with her mother, long ago...

"_What is special about you, Aeris?"_

"_I...hear voices in my head."_

"_Yes, and what else?"_

"_I...hear these horrible cries whenever I'm around a Mako reactor..."_

"_Now, my dear, if these things get out, and you're found by the wrong people, don't you worry about what could happen?"_

"_...Yes."_

As she had aged, her persistence rotted away and her patience grew, so she had accepted the situation. She had stayed in the slums, hiding, keeping a low profile. After a time, she began to scare herself. She heard voices, belonging to people she had never even known...and when they spoke to her, she could visualize their words, and see their events. She received a distinct feeling that they were true. That was how the announcement of the death of her father had come about. She had felt it, the moment he died, like a disruption in the stream of reality. Aeris had even heard his voice, cry out...

"_Elmyra...I love you..."_

And there had been the shrill screams that had awoken her in the middle of the night. She did not know what was making them, or even if they were real.

But she had accepted it, accepted it all, no matter its oddity. It was a weird situation, she would give it that. And it was the strict refusal to face and decipher it, that granted her the ability to live with the fact that she knew virtually nothing, but only to struggle to blend in with everyone else. Not that it wasn't a pursued task. She had tried it her entire life.

Back in the present, Aeris stared at her mother. "If...I'm like this, than were you and Dad...?"

Elmyra shook her head. "No, dear. Neither of us were like you...I'm afraid."

"I...see."

Elmyra drooped a comforting arm over her daughter's shoulder. "So, how many flowers did you sell today?"


	2. The First Mistake Part 1

DUALITY

CHAPTER 2

PART I

_I stand on the brink of your mind_

_Living inside a nightmare from which_

_I just cannot awaken_

_Stand on the edge of your life_

_Just give me another moment_

_From which I will never awaken..._

_-Mistress, Disturbed_

Footsteps. Aeris opened her eyes, slowly, expecting to hear the gentle caress of her mother's voice, awakening her from a night of fitful slumber. It had been restless, filled with doubt over the future. She lay there, eyelids still too heavy to open, muscles too weary to function. It was too soon , she assured herself. Too soon to return to the severity of the living world.

The footsteps grew louder, drawing nearer.

_Aeris...wake up..._

It was a woman's voice, distilled in the sanctity of her mind. Her voice was familiar, Aeris had heard it numerous times before. With a firm desire for repose, Aeris tried to push the voice away, to a place where she could not hear it. She did have the ability to silence the voices, but the act required immense concentration, and she was far too weary and contained too little strength to center in and get a clear enough shot.

"_I...can't wake up...just a little while longer..." _she pleaded mentally, hoping she could enclose herself behind a barrier of persuasive thought.

But the voice screamed at her. _Aeris...wake up now!_

It had been so abrupt, her eyes shot open, and her heart began to pound wildly as the scene before her failed to correspond with the welcoming atmosphere of her bedroom.

The infamous Shinra Tower rose before her, seeming to boast of its majesty. But the great skyscraper was dark, and appeared hollow. The entire city surrounding it was also dark, covered in a veil of filthy clouds. A chill wind swept through the area, howling as it cut through the streets. Everything was deftly silent. The familiar clamors of city life were absent. Everything was standing still. It frightened her. She had never felt more alone in all of her days.

"What on the Planet...?" Aeris whispered, her voice uncomfortably loud in the hushed air. The tone resounded, echoing off the empty buildings and seemingly, into eternity. She wanted to tell herself this was a dream, and that'd she'd wake up...but it didn't seem to be a dream at all. It was so real.

She stood there, the breeze whipping her hair about. As she examined herself, she realized she was wearing her SOLDIER uniform, and a sword was clasped tightly in her right hand. Heart thundering against her ribs, she examined the blade, holding it out before her. It weighed her arm down, and she was forced to grasp it with both hands. The steel was narrow, but more than six feet in length. The hilt was well worn down with frequent use and, probably, human sweat. Aeris thought wildly back to where she had seen the sword before, but could not remember anything in the chaos of the moment.

"Hello?" she cried, eyes darting all about her. "Is anybody there?" With her chest heaving for breath, she turned and ran a few paces away from the Shinra Building. The clicking of her steel lined boots were as loud as gunshots. "Can anybody hear me!" she demanded.

But only the wind responded, howling fiercely.

"What on the Planet happened!" she shouted, running frantically back and forth.

_You're going to be all right, just hold on. _The mysterious woman's voice.

"Who are you?" A deep voice, a man's voice.

She nearly leapt out of her skin at the sound of another human voice. The first had been inside her head, but the second...it had been real, on the outside. She gasped, head spinning rapidly, looking for the man that had spoken. "Who's there? What's going on?" she cried.

_Just hang on for a little while longer. You'll be all right..._

"What are you doing here?"

"Stop it!" she yelled, the sword clattering to the ground as her hands rose and began clawing at her temples. The voice that was locked in her mind began screaming. It was a horrible piercing sound that made her head ache.

Before she could seek it out, the voice had gone. But when she looked up, she found Cloud to be standing there before her, his back partially turned. He gripped a sword in his hands as well, though it was extremely thick and duller than the blade at Aeris's feet. He held it out before him, eyes scouring his surroundings. Aeris would have liked to tell herself that it had been Cloud speaking a minute ago, but she knew it would be a lie. That voice was different. It had been deeper, more melodic. So there was someone else there, with them.

"Cloud!" Aeris cried. "What's going on?"

He responded immediately, in an icy tone. "I was followed," he bit out. "He's coming for me."

Aeris's eyes widened. "What? Who? What are you talking about? Cloud, what's going on!"

_It's a choice. But it's yours to make, and yours alone._

"Stay quiet, stay alert. He's around here somewhere," Cloud said through clenched teeth.

_Pick up the sword or don't, its your choice._

"_What!_" Aeris demanded.

Everything happened in an instant. Aeris, hearing the same footsteps again, whirled. She knelt to gather the fallen sword but discovered it was nowhere to be found. Cloud had let his guard down and turned in her direction, but still clutched his sword hilt so tightly that beneath his gloves his knuckles were white with stress. Aeris turned back toward him in a flash, just in time to see the sword that she had only recently held erupt from her companion's stomach...malicious, glowing green eyes appeared as her eyes began to darken as the scene faded into blackness...

_It has been decided..._

"No!"

Aeris had jolted in a sitting position, cold sweat brimming her forehead. Her eyes were wide with terror, and tears stained her cheeks. She heaved her chest with each breath. That dream...it had been so real...

Deciding to leave the art of dreaming to those still asleep, her head turned rapidly one way to the other, surveying her surroundings. She was perturbed to discover that she was, once again, not in her bedroom. But she did recognize her location, and dubbed it real. Bare, windowless metal walls lined the room, with a simple desk and chair in the corner and a side compartment for washing near the front. The vague, colorless ambience only went to confirm her location.

"The...the Shinra Headquarters?" she uttered unbelievingly. "How on Earth did I end up here? I...I'm supposed to be at home..." She stared down at herself. She was clad in a white nightgown.

As if it were a reflex to her unanswered question, she sprang out of bed, activating the vertical sliding door and rushing out into an abandoned hallway. In the next few moments, all that befell her remained unseen in her eyes, glazed with determination and wide in wild fear. She did not notice the rogue employees as they ceased their aimless strolling to stare at her as she sprinted by.

On a path that lay somehow inscribed within her mind her feet carried her. Her stamina and mind only ordered haste, with a tireless urgency as her nightgown clothed form weaved itself through countless dim passages. Her vision began to blur and an impending darkness began to conquer the light. As she passed through a final doorway, Aeris came upon a room with a pair of fountains and large windows that lined either side, overlooking the glowing jewels of the city of Midgar below. There lay a door at the far end, with a green light that indicated it was occupied.

It seemed an eternity, treading the moist floor from the fountains with her bare feet until she had come close enough to reach the door, pressing her hand against it. A mechanical voice acknowledged her presence, while a bright light blinded her already failing sight. "Who are you?" were the last words she heard as her legs gave out and her eyelids flickered before her unconscious form slumped harmlessly to the ground, her pale hand still extended toward the door.

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SHINRA HEADQUARTERS

3:00 a.m.

He had heard the intruder long before the sensor security had traced its arrival. His first thought was, who in the hell would be calling on him at this hour, and for the gods' sake why didn't they just page him like they had been instructed?

A sigh escaped his lips as he clutched his forehead. Though he was not weary, this was so ridiculous...the stress he experienced as a result of the foolish flaws that this empire contained and seemed to almost constantly unleash upon him.

Moments later, he rose from his chair, brushing his long, silver hair from his eyes as he activated the door. He was suddenly struck pale by the sight of a corpse, spread upon his doorstep. It was a woman, clothed in a nightgown that clung very tightly to her thin form. He looked around outside of the door for anyone.

Was it a joke? Or perhaps it was Hojo's little way of dropping hints to him?

No matter, he decided. This had to be dealt with.

He knelt, waving his hand in front of the girl's eyes, but she did not move. "Who are you?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else. "What are you doing here?"

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SHINRA HEADQUARTERS

2:30 p.m.

An endless abyss of intense, ivory light. The ambience struck her eyes with a blow of gleaming penetration. Her eyelids slowly crept open, the white light engulfing them. Emeralds bathed in sallow luminosity, carved into an already pale face.

The light held her in a trance, forcing her eyes to fully expand as her mouth unhinged slightly, and to the doctor observing her from the door, she seemed to be staring at an invisible, impossible sight. But then, the light faded, and Aeris found herself lying on her back, cushioned with pillows. She was inside an infirmary, a hospital room. The language of mechanics echoed off the metal walls, bleeps and clicks composed in a symphony of technology.

"Seems like you're coming around," a stern voice mumbled. Her eyes still fixed on the ceiling, she felt a warm hand grace her shoulder. She shivered at its touch, as the owner of the voice knelt over her and nodded his head. "Yes, you acknowledge my presence, then?"

She nodded, or at least, she attempted to. Her body felt overwhelmed by a foreign fatigue, her muscles unresponsive and obstinate. Aeris had never felt so exhausted in all her days. She blinked. "Uh...where...am I?" she softly asked. Her throat was hoarse, as if she had been screaming. The words came out in a muffled shuffle.

The doctor was a young man with shining ebony hair cropped to his chin that he wore tucked behind his ears. Through her recovering eyes, Aeris could distinguish cold blue eyes behind the frames of his glasses. Now, as she looked, he seemed intent on deciphering that medical language the technicians often scribbled down on clipboards. He held one.

His answer took time. "The infirmary of the Shinra Headquarters. Can't you tell?" he asked matter-of-factly, never taking his eyes off the clipboard. He spoke in that same, arrogant, monotonous voice that possessed all of Shinra's drones.

_That's all they are, anyway, _Aeris thought dully. _Pawns on a chessboard with the player being bent on world domination..._

"Excuse me? You okay?" To Aeris's surprise, he had looked up and even held concern in his unreadable eyes. "You looked like you were going to fall asleep again."

"Oh...I'm s-sorry," she uttered thickly. "Sorry, but what do you mean _again_?"

"You've been doing that for a while now. Since about three this morning, to be exact. Sleeping, and muttering gibberish. Nothing to worry about. We think you've just been having some nightmares. I personally thought it was a coma, but you were speaking out loud. I've diagnosed you with over-exhaustion. Happens to a lot of SOLDIERs, its nothing to worry about."

She sighed, flexing her fingers beneath the blanket that lay draped over her body. "I was over-exhausted? Doesn't come as a surprise. But can you tell me what happened? How did I end up _here_? Wait!" she suddenly jerked up, the blanket flowing to her knees. "How long have I been out? It has to be more than a day..." she groaned from the overwhelming effort that had been so forcefully cast upon her still-weary stamina.

The doctor chuckled into his fist as he set the clipboard aside and gently pushed her back into the pillows. "Relax, will you? All that matters now is your well-being. Are you okay? Do you feel okay now?" His tone was forced, as if he had said the very same thing to countless people already today.

Aeris nodded. "I feel...weak."

"Heh. I don't blame you. Midnight sprints throughout the whole of this building must indeed be exhausting."

Again, she found her still concealed mind scavenging through his words for confirmation. "Midnight sprints?"

The doctor sighed. "I'll tell you what. This'll be a lot simpler if you tell me what you remember. I'll try my best to fill in the blanks, okay?"

Aeris felt like a child, but she nodded.

"I...all I remember is coming home after we were dispatched to Sector 7. Everyone else went back to Headquarters, but I..." The thought of where she was and who she was talking to suddenly struck her. She couldn't reveal to these people where she lived...she shouldn't even be here now, they could already know so much about her...

_Planet help me, _she thought. _I'm right in the middle of the place where I shouldn't be...What if...they find out things about me that I don't even know?_

She hesitated. "I...uh...I had to run an errand for a friend in Wall Market, so I had a comrade of mine say he would account for me when the troops returned to Headquarters."

"Hmm...Wall Market? Is that under the Plate?"

Aeris nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"Very well, then. Do you remember anything else?"

Aeris struggled to invent another story for the man. Even though she knew it was probably imperative to tell everything just as it had happened, she dare not. It would include revealing where her mother lived, where _she _lived, and she just could not do that.

Instead, she decided asking him a question. "Where did you find me, to bring me here?"

"_I _didn't bring you here, Miss..."

"Gainsborough."

_There's no fault in it, _she thought. _That's the name on my SOLDIER file._

"Very well, Miss Gainsborough. I didn't bring you here. That was the work of someone else."

Aeris bowed her head in thought. She had fallen asleep at her mother's house, in her own bed. Yet she remembered her room in the Shinra Building being the first atmosphere in which she was truly awake. (_Before that, it must have just been a dream, _she assured herself) So how had she come to be here in the first place?

"Who was that 'someone else' that brought me in?" Aeris asked him.

"Well, the first time it was a young man, blonde haired, whom I believe was in SOLDIER as well. He brought you here, but when I told him there was nothing I could do, and that you were only sleeping, he took you elsewhere." The doctor took the time to flip a page on his clipboard. "And the next thing I know, you're back here again," he said, raising an eyebrow and grinning.

Now things were starting to make a little sense. She had probably overslept, and, possibly, been "muttering gibberish" (as the doctor had distinctly put it), and when she didn't wake up, her mother had probably called Cloud. Elmyra would not go near the Shinra, Aeris knew that much, so when Cloud had arrived, he had probably taken matters into his own hands-knowing nothing about Aeris's desire for ambiguity-and had almost certainly forced his ways on her mother and taken her to the hospital in the Shinra Building.

From there, Cloud had taken her to her SOLDIER's quarters. And she knew the rest was certain from there, even though the entire episode with her running to nowhere and collapsing was pretty vague.

"Doctor," she said, eyes narrowed, "Who brought me in the second time?"

At that, the doctor broke into laughter, setting the clipboard down on a nearby cabinet and crossing his arms over his chest. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said, struggling to contain his amusement. He took off his glasses and ran his fingers across his eyes, as if he were wiping away tears. "I didn't even believe my eyes. I think I should have them checked."

Aeris glared at him. She was not in mood to play games-all she wanted to do was find out who this second "savior" was so that she could perhaps express her gratitude to him when this was all over. And then, for lack of a better way to put it, get the hell out of the Shinra building.

Before she could protest out loud, however, the doctor fixed her with an intent stare and locked her eyes in his gaze. "You remember nothing? You are sure?"

"Yes..." Aeris said, knitting her eyebrows together. "Why can't you just tell me?"

"Would you faint if I told you that the General Sephiroth showed up at three this morning, holding you in his arms and asking for assistance? Or perhaps it comes off as no surprise to you? You two are...possibly acquainted?"

_General Sephiroth! Of the entire Shinra army!_

Aeris, her eyes wide, shook her head rapidly. "No...I have no affiliation with him at all..." The doctor's words had failed to strike the reaction that, by all means, it _should _have. She was surprisingly calm. But then the fear settled in.

General Sephiroth. The man was a military genius-the best strategist and swordsman that Shinra Inc. had ever come to know. He had slaughtered thousands in the past war with the far away country of Wutai. He was never seen in public, and remained locked away in his room in the Shinra Tower. It was said amongst the general population that enjoyed the art of gossip that the man only came out at night, and when he did, he stalked the streets like a predator, killing whomever he wished, however he wished.

He was the bloodthirsty villain in the ultimate horror story that Shinra Inc. had become.

It was insanity, to think that she had unconsciously approached this man, and he had taken her here, to the infirmary.

"It is a matter of chance, no?" the doctor said, grinning. "And other ironies that I personally cannot find explanations for now, and probably never will."

Was he serious? Or just trying to trick her? It didn't matter...it had passed, and she hadn't even been mentally aware of the event. So it was as good as a dream. Whether the General had brought her in or not, Aeris thought it better just to forget about the entire situation. It was far healthier to let the happening go than get further involved in it, especially in this situation. There was nothing she could do.

Aeris bit her lip, and sat up slowly. "I...appear to be all right, Doctor. When may I be permitted to leave?"

_Get me out of here, _she thought. _Forget all the footnotes to all of this, I just want out..._

"Its precaution," the doctor said, taking his glasses off and cleaning them on his lab coat. "Especially for SOLDIERs, that patients must have a single night of recovery."

"But that would mean I would have to stay here again, tonight?" she asked, all hope fading from her voice.

"That's correct."

"Can't I just...go? I mean, I was just over-exhausted, but I seem to be fine now..."

"Miss Gainsborough, regulations are regulations. You will be permitted to leave tomorrow morning."

Aeris collapsed back into the bed, rolling her eyes as the doctor turned his back on her. "Let me know if you need anything," he said, almost sarcastically, as he arrogantly strode out of the room.

_Great, _Aeris thought. _I'm stuck here. They've got cameras everywhere, so I can't just walk out. What was Cloud thinking? No...its not his fault. He was just trying to protect me, and he doesn't know about...me. _She took a deep breath. _All right. Just don't make any sudden movements while you're held up here. Don't give them a reason to observe you even closer. Might have to lay low for awhile when I get back home..._

A thought suddenly struck her. Would she have to quit SOLDIER, now that they knew about her? When she had signed up, more than three years ago, she had just been another recruit, seemingly entranced in the wonders of Shinra Inc., and wanting to be apart of the company, just like everyone else. They hadn't had a way to place her apart from anyone else. They had to take a DNA sample to enter into the military database, for MIA cases and such, but that had been no big deal either. It was just for records. If anything, to Aeris, it made her all the more difficult to find. Someone who was trying to avoid Shinra would never in their wildest dreams actually join up with the company. But it had been clever. It was the last place on the Planet that they-whoever "they" were-would look for her.

_Too bad Mom doesn't know._

But Elmyra couldn't know. She had experienced hell with Shinra, after her husband had nearly devoted his entire life to serving the President, he had died in a war that he had no business fighting. He had been too old and sick, but he had fought anyway. Elmyra had received nothing, no commission check after his death. His remains hadn't even been sent home. His body was undoubtedly still in Wutai, buried beneath an unmarked grave, right alongside his fellow military companions. The only positive thought Elmyra had was that her beloved husband had died fighting for a cause that he believed in.

But she would never allow Aeris to go anywhere near the Shinra. She would probably die from the news if Aeris were to tell her about the double life she had been living. The woman wouldn't think of the advantages, but only of the risks. Elmyra had allowed Aeris to be a girl selling the flowers that grew in the yard, only because it appeared to be extremely inconspicuous. No one would suspect a humble flower girl of anything.

Which was true. But having an alibi for any sticky situation was even better. She had a double life, a double identity. She was both Aeris the SOLDIER, and Aeris the flower girl. If she was caught in one position, she could flee to the other. It was tiring, and time-consuming, keeping both up at the same time, but comfortable, and assuring.

So her problem was solved. If she was found out in some way by the people here at Shinra, she would pose as dead, and her file would be erased from the database. And just like that, she would be untraceable. It would be back to the slums, selling flowers on the streets as a faceless citizen of the underworld.

She smirked. _And that will be my full time._

But what about Cloud? He would remain uninformed, of course, and if she were to disappear from SOLDIER completely, he too, would vanish from her life. The thought of losing the only person that had been a friend to her over the years gnawed at her heart, but she relaxed when she realized this whole situation was only a possibility, that had just an equal chance of not happening. It was best to think positive. She would deal with the pain when it dealt its heaviest blow, and she would not cower at its shadow.

She placed her arms behind her head, satisfied that the future would take care of itself. She had landed herself in a difficult spot, there was no denying that, but she had been well-prepared. It was time to relax.

Aeris glanced at the clock that rested on the wall before her. It was three o'clock in the afternoon. All she had to do was wait until about six in the morning, and she would be out of here.

But, as every criminal knows, even the greatest of schemes allow things to slip through the cracks. And those things, every so often, happen to be vital. And the past, in the most mysterious of senses, has a way of sneaking up on you and becoming your worst enemy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	3. The First Mistake Part 2

DUALITY

CHAPTER 2

PART 2

SHINRA HEADQUARTERS

11:45 p.m.

It was hours later that night, long after Aeris had drifted asleep, that her doctor went about his standard duties of securing his patient's positions in the medical database. The room was dark, illuminated only by the glow of the computer monitor, and the hallway outside was only lit by the lighting of emergency lights. It was long after hours, and most employees had retired to their homes.

_But they can go to hell, _thought the doctor, with a smug little grin.

He was a busy man, with a job demanding much more attention and work than that of the lazy three-piece-suits that sat around all day on the upper floors. And yet he was given half the pay, and less than half the respect. Consequently, he had no problem with putting off procedures a few hours so that he too could receive some of that lax poise.

But, in fact, if he were to be found like this, he could be fired, on account of failing to complete his job within the specified time slot. It was a stupid reason to fire someone, really, but if his discoverer wanted to, he could take the matter to the President himself. And meager doctors not worth their weight in gold were insects crawling on a flawless diamond surface in the eyes of President Shinra.

Shoving thoughts of being caught to the back of his mind, he flipped through the disks that held the samples of DNA he had gathered from each person that had checked into Shinra's hospital as a patient this morning. He examined them with the eyes of a professional that has seen the exact same case so many times he could recite the characteristics by heart. He was about to insert one into the computer, when a door closed somewhere nearby, outside the room.

He jumped up in surprise, his elbow colliding with the pile of disks and spilling them behind the desk. They clattered to the floor, the disturbance ringing loudly throughout the quiet room.

"Shit," he muttered, his eyes darting to the door, fearing that a figure would emerge.

He waited a moment, and after hearing no further commotion from the hallway, hurriedly knelt and proceeded to collect the spilled information. He piled the disks into his hand, and muttered varying curses concerning the dejected aspects of his job. He was about to rise again, when he spotted another disk, wedged between the leg of the desk and the wall. With a quirk of curiosity, his fingers closed around it, and he raised it up to his eyes.

"Gainsborough, Aeris," he read aloud, studying the label.

It was the girl that had been complaining about how long she had to stay. The girl that the General had brought in.

"Well, how did you end up down there?" he wondered audibly, personifying the sample as if it were the girl herself. "General Sephiroth wouldn't be pleased if he knew I'd been slacking on watching over his girlfriend."

The doctor had a good laugh at that, shaking his head. He had taken the sample the first time the girl had been brought in, by the blonde SOLDIER. She had remained for an hour, just sleeping. The SOLDIER had not left her side. It was so pathetic a sight, that the doctor had kicked them both out, mumbling about how the hospital was not a place for "napping". He had dismissed it as some sort of hoax; SOLDIERs often thought they had a sort of permanent upper-hand, and they had a right to mess with the doctors that treated them. But when the girl had come back (still asleep, he had noted) and this time in the arms of the General, the humble doctor had decided to take the situation seriously. Things had begun to grow dangerous. Anything that involved General Sephiroth was clearly in the big-leagues.

The sample had fallen behind the desk last night, and he had failed to process it. But it mattered little. No one kept track except for him, so no one would know, his error would pass by unseen.

Determined to fix his error, and also, secretly, curious about the girl, he entered the sample into the computer, placing the other discs aside. It took a moment for the computer to process, but at last, a photo appeared, along with the typical description and bio.

He stared at the photo. The girl was beautiful, there was no doubt of that. Even this afternoon, covered in sweat and with matted hair, she had been beautiful.

_Like a flower showered in rain, _he thought.

He discovered she was twenty two, un-married, just over five feet tall, and never previously employed before her registration with SOLDIER. Apart from her striking features, she was pretty average, as far as military recruits went. Women were more common in the army than the average mind would think. It was, of course, only their companions that saw them without their helmets, so it was expected that the public knew little.

"Hmm...easy to see why you have interested our General..." he told the photo.

The General, when he had brought her in, in his typical silent fashion, had said nothing, but only a blunt command. The doctor had fallen to his knees to obey, his mind full of questions but all the more willing to concur.

So this relationship, if there even was one, was completely a secret.

Congratulating himself on his chance discovery, the doctor entered the girl's new information into the record, and then closed the window, hand reaching for the next disc. But then he saw it. Words flashed across the screen.

_**Loading Match 2 of 2...**_

"What?" breathed the doctor, eyes completely intent on the monitor.

In an instant, a new window swept up into the center of the screen. This time, several photos covered the page, all of an infant. The baby had been photographed in several different positions, and from different angles. The bio was short and simple, two lines:

_**SPECIMEN: IF-2**_

_**SPECIES: ANCIENT**_

With knitted eyebrows, the doctor read it again.

_Ancient? What the...?_

He recalled hearing something about the Ancients, but it had been long ago. So long ago, in fact, he could swear he was a child, still in school. They were fictional characters, the Ancients, the main features in several fairytale books that had been written over the years.

So what in the hell was this bio doing in this database, and matching with the DNA of Aeris Gainsborough?

He glanced at his wristwatch. It was just after midnight. Surely Professor Hojo would be up and about. Rumor had it amongst the science wing culture that he stayed up all night doing his job, and slept during the day.

The doctor hurriedly printed both profiles, and released the disk from the computer and gathered it in his hand. He rose, almost trotting out of the room, tucking the papers and the disk into a manila folder and then securing them beneath his elbow.

It was no more than a brisk walk up a few flights of stairs to the science department. The night secretary, already drifting off at her post, glanced at the doctor dreamily over the dark rims of her glasses. "Can I help you, Sir?" she asked, not bothering to stifle a yawn.

"Yes," the doctor said. "I need to see Professor Hojo."

"I'm sorry, but the Professor is very busy..."

The doctor took his glasses off and stuffed them in his pocket, so that his gaze was all the more intense. "Tell him, there's a fairy tale he forgot to clean out of the medical database. Its something I believe he should see."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	4. The Second Mistake

DUALITY

CHAPTER 3

SHINRA HEADQUARTERS

12:30 a.m.

He stood hunched over, much like an old tree. He had indeed been weathered by years of taunting, but when looking into his eyes one could see how intolerable and hardened to cold humor he had become, all the more broken to the imposed stupidity of the human race. He was strengthened by an acute observation and dedication to his career. But his commitment to his work had often been mistaken as insanity, which was why he had gained such a fearful reputation throughout Shinra Inc.

The man wore his charcoal hair tethered behind his neck, and it looked much in need of a wash, as it clung sloppily to his forehead. His skin was so pale that it was all too easy to predict how often the man saw the light of day and felt the warmth of the sun outside. He wore a set of glasses that hung slightly below the bridge of his nose. Dark eyes peered over the frames.

"What is this nonsense you've brought to my lab?" he demanded in a tone of ice, shoving his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat. "The hour is late..." he growled, thrusting a finger from the depths of his coat and jabbing it at the large digital clock on the wall.

The room was large in itself, bathed in the steady glow of the fluorescent light panels in the ceiling. The walls were lined with capsules of varying sizes, and the tables were swamped in paperwork. Empty cardboard boxes, that had once contained lab supplies, littered the ground, which was also so covered in material that a small path, no more than two feet wide, had been forged through it as the only means of getting about the room.

"I know the hour, Professor Hojo," the doctor responded after a moment. It was in a tone that specified all too well how aware he had been of the possible characteristics of such a confrontation, here, and with the man that stood in front of him.

It had been his first impulse to heed to the higher authority, after all, but now he was beginning to doubt the clarity of his judgment. The doctor struggled not to cower in front of the professor, but it was becoming all the more difficult to mask his fear. Unspeakable, gruesome things about the professor and his policies in his line of work had managed to filter down through the floors of the building, and over time, the doctor had gathered them, and tucked them away in the corners of his mind for future reference. They had been such horrid stories that the potential to actually speak to the infamous Hojo was the substance of a bad dream.

Yet here he was, standing before the man, the dreaded scene willed into living, breathing, and frightening reality.

The doctor thrust the manila folder out before him, as Hojo's eyes shot him a glance that demanded for him to be reduced to a smoking hole in the ground. "I-I'm sorry for the intrusion, really I am, but my discovery was so sudden..." the doctor attempted, struggling to find words at all.

As the expression of disgust on his face deepened, Hojo seized the folder and threw it open, shoving the contents before his eyes.

As he watched, the doctor prayed for a change to come about, for the man's eyes to widen, perhaps, or for his brow to gradually unfurl as his eyebrows raised. He hoped that the professor's irritation would be replaced by astonishment, and, as a bonus, conceivably, praise. The seemingly well-deserved praise.

But all held still, distilled in a most uncomfortable moment of silence, like the calm before the storm. Hojo's face stayed the same, though his eyebrows drew together, and his jaw gradually tightened as his eyes scoured the two pieces of paper. Suddenly, however, the grimace faded, as Hojo's lips slowly curved upward, his eyes narrow as they rose and focused on the doctor. It was impossible to determine what exactly his mind was conjuring, but the doctor could see the cogs turning madly inside Hojo's head.

"I must say, Doctor. You have earned your pay this evening," Hojo remarked icily, the words sliding smoothly and dangerously from his tongue, as they cut through the air and reached the ears of the doctor.

And as he witnessed the look of smugness on the professor's face, the doctor's heart began to quicken. Fear began to crash upon the barrier of stubbornness and determination that the doctor had constructed around him throughout his career. The careless, and often rebellious figure he maintained was beginning to slip away from him at that very moment, as Hojo stepped around him, shut the door to the room, and drew the curtain over the links of the window.

When the doctor had joined Shinra, it had seemed like he had been offered a little piece of immortality. And despite the general belief that had circulated about him, he was not just another faceless member of the company.

But as Hojo caught him by the collar of his shirt, his pale fingers grasping the fine material as a hidden strength well concealed in the cloak of scientific thought brought the doctor off the ground, the humble man began to wish that he had just gone home at the normal time tonight. Just like everyone else. Everyone who was faceless.

Hojo's ebony eyes smiled at him like licking flames, threatening to engulf his suddenly extremely flammable disposition. The doctor's chest heaved for breath as the fabric of his collar dug into his flesh and severely limited his breathing.

"You have earned your pay, but, I am afraid you have stumbled upon a matter far too delicate for your observation," the professor said, his voice a cunning whisper. "Far too delicate, even for your _knowledge_."

Mercy was never an option, as its existence had been as scarce in the dark interior of the Shinra Tower as water in the desert. The fate of those few, not fortunate enough to keep clear of the danger that could be lurking just around the corner, was just as obvious and as sure as a man staring down the barrel of a gun realized the certainty of his future.

_Gun, _thought the doctor as he hung helplessly, a few inches above the ground. _Scientists _never _carry guns. Why does my temple feel so...so cold?_

A hallway and a flight of stairs away, the evening secretary lay slumped over in her chair, her eyelids flickering with the apparent approach of slumber. Through her ears, the familiar office noises around her were growing all the more muffled as her hearing began to wane, as she was deafened to everything that was not in the world of dreams. A stark crack broke through the air.

It brought the woman out of her wavering position between slumber and consciousness for only a moment, as she struggled to place the noise and link it to a possible source. It had sounded, she thought dreamily, nearly like a gunshot.

But that was nonsense. What would a gun be doing here?  
Firmly deciding that she had indeed deserved a great deal of time off, and that she was just too tired, the secretary found no fault in closing her eyes completely, dreaming everything around her away, the simple desk, the computer monitor, the chair, the hallway, the flight of stairs leading to the laboratory where the eccentric old professor lurked...

The manila folder safely tucked away beneath his arm, Professor Hojo shaded his eyes as he crept into the stairwell. It was nearly two o'clock, and so the many flights of stairs were all but deserted, save for a score of night guardsmen and janitors passing every so often, many floors beneath him.

It was customary for the employees in Shinra to inform the highly positioned overseers whenever they should seek conference with them, but this situation was different. Hojo had been frivolously taught that urgency need not contain courtesy, nor custom. It was an unspoken law to science. Discovery permitted stepping out of line-_dashing _out of line, if necessary. There was no time, no place, for patience and order.

_To hell with the proper etiquette, and with policy, _the professor thought as he brushed his hair from his eyes.

It was folly, to think he was depending solely on the man whose love for money nearly surpassed his love of sloth. Hojo was depending on the man to listen to him, eventually nod his head in agreement, and give the word to get everything started. Then, the poor fool could be cast aside, and utterly forgotten.

Just like the doctor.

Hojo sneered at the thought of how easy this was going to be.

_Just a few of the right words here and there, and..._

He snapped his fingers, just as a sinister grin alighted on his lips.

It was all too perfect, and almost too good to be true.

Hojo had taken the stairs, simply because the constant placing of one foot before the other allowed him the time and repose to focus on the here and the now. Each step he took compared nicely to how life worked for him, how each step individually may seem small and impudent, but without even a single one, he could not successfully reach his destination.

As he emerged at last upon the top floor, he slid his keycard into the activation slot. A distinct but quiet hum sounded, and the door shot vertically upward. Hojo stepped through it, and into a large, dimly illuminated room. At the end of the area, there lay a staircase, neatly and elegantly shrouded in a scarlet carpet. As the professor peered up, he noticed a few beams of light scattered on the surface of the carpet, descending from the room above.

The professor grinned. It was as he had hoped.

_It may be two in the morning, but some people never sleep._

He climbed the stairs, placing one foot in front of the other in his all too familiar fashion, and before he knew it, he was standing in an ivory room. A desk lay in the dead center. The neon glow of lights cast by the never-sleeping city of Midgar shown brightly below, through a series of windows that encompassed the whole of the rear wall. Hojo, completely immune to the extravagance of the room, advanced.

"Good evening, Professor."

The voice, deep and streaked with mockery, drifted from a great black leather chair, so tall it completely hid its occupant. It faced the great window that overlooked the city below, spun away from Hojo.

"Why, thank you, Sir," Hojo replied with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. Silently to himself, he decided since he was up here, with the king of pulling people's strings, he might as well speak the puppet dialect. He might as well play along with the amused antics of the man sitting in the chair.

As Hojo stood there, before the great desk, the chair behind it swiveled on its wheels, revealing the distinguished form of President Shinra. His eyes peered from their sockets like ravenous wolves waiting for prey, green and streaked with blue. His hair was thinning and colored gray, as a sheer sign of his advancing in years. A blue suit, made with the finest material probably known to man, covered his plump figure, made into such a contented state by years and years of pleasure and luxury at the head of the most powerful empire in the known world.

Often, Shinra held his well-preserved youthful poise over his employees, though it was usually shielded in crude humor. He had married young, but his wife had died ten years ago, leaving him with a single son. Name of Rufus, and he had his mother's beauty and his father's wit. He was off in some distant, remote part of the world at the moment, overseeing a resurrected mining operation in an abandoned Mako reactor. Probably living it up, too, undoubtedly, as the princely "duties" he was usually assigned to never really seemed to include very much hard work in the package.

Shinra raised an eyebrow as Hojo stood there, arms crossed over his chest. The professor's eyes fell to the floor, as he found a spot on the carpet and stared at it. "I wonder how you recognized me without seeing me," Hojo muttered. He looked up. "My footsteps, perhaps? Was it their length, or the amount of impact that gave me away?"

The President laughed. "Nothing quite so complicated, I assure you," he said, still chuckling. He spun a monitor on the desk in the professor's direction. "Ever hear of a camera? One of the greatest inventions of mankind. Remarkable how it grants you the ability to see through walls."

"Yes, well...I commend the inventor," Hojo mumbled.

"Right," Shinra replied. He opened a drawer, and his stout fingers fumbled about in it, only to come out grasping a cigar. The President, to Hojo's immense appreciation, had completely tired of amusement, for the time being. The expression on the man's face had immediately molded into one of strict business.

"So what is it, Hojo? Gods above, they joke around about you a lot, but here's one thing they happen to be right about. You never sleep." He paused, taking the moment to strike a match and light the cigar and fix it in his teeth. "Of course, I could say the same about myself. But why sleep the night away? Such interesting things happen at night, after all."

"Yes indeed," Hojo replied, grinning. "Very interesting things."

The President smiled at him. "What have you found?"

_Where to begin? _Hojo silently and mischievously inquired of himself. He casually tossed the folder onto the desk. Shinra reached for it, looking questioningly into Hojo's eyes.

"Go on, Mr. President," he said, smirking and indicating the folder, "I firmly believe that no further explanation is needed."

"Very well."

Hojo eyes fixed themselves on the wondrous view of the metropolis below. He silently counted in his head as his mind confirmed the sound of the President shuffling through the papers.

_3...2...1..._

"Is this...is this, real?" The President's voice came in a tone no louder than a whisper.

_...0._

Hojo tipped his head enough for Shinra to see the wide, calculating grin on his face. "Just as real as I am now standing before you, Sir. Just as real as the city of Midgar," the professor replied, gesturing his hand toward the window. "I am pleased. I was afraid I would have to explain everything to you."

Shinra laughed. "I'm not that old, mind you," he said, taking the cigar from his lips as he blew a fine stream of smoke. "That was only twenty years ago. I remember everything about it. How it came together, and how it fell apart."

"It only fell apart because of poor security," Hojo pointed out, his words bordered in disgust as an equally grim light came into his eyes.

"The man was...taken care of," Shinra said, the corners of his lips affixed in a sneer. "But the damage has been done. There is no use loathing over the past, Professor. Especially not now, when opportunity lies so easily within reach. Ah, this is excellent."

A moment of silence passed. "She is here, then?" Shinra inquired, not bothering to look up from the papers.

"Yes."

"Where?"

"The hospital, I believe."

"Anything wrong with her? Is her condition critical?"

"Nothing of the sort, she was only over-exhausted, as the latest addition to her record tells me," Hojo drawled in response.

"How long is she here for?"

"Until approximately six this morning." Hojo paused for a moment. "Three and a half hours from now."

The President leaped up from his chair, the cigar completely forgotten as it clattered to the floor. "What are you waiting for, man? Go and get her! Lock her up so she can't escape again!" When Hojo began to laugh, cruelly and thickly, Shinra's face began to turn bright red. "Fool of a man! I would have thought you of all people would have done everything you could to ensure..."

"Calm yourself, Mr. President. I was unsure what you wished me to do. Keep in mind, twenty years is a very long time. Things change, things come to pass, and things come into existence."

Shinra sighed, slowly collapsing into his chair. "Oh, I assure you, Hojo," he said, calmness gradually drawing back into his tone, "Some things never change. And this happens to be one of them."

"Very well, then," Hojo said, his face a mask of seriousness. "Then I have your order to reinstate this project?" The professor spoke the words carefully, as if he were treading on very thin ice.

"Do you really think it will work, Hojo?" Shinra asked, drumming his fingertips on the wooden surface of his desk. "Just how far into research were you? How much did you know?"

"I would have to consult my records," Hojo admitted, "But I assure you, the original plan can go into effect very quickly and very efficiently. All that is required is time and strict, strict observation."

"I do not want to go into this running blind, Professor," Shinra said. "Not after the events of the past. It was far too easy for misfortune to take the helm of the last attempt on the project. Too great of room for error. Do you not remember what you brought forth the last time?"

A flash erupted in Hojo's mind.

_Death...don't ignore it..._

The professor shook his head rapidly, and began to laugh.

Shirna looked at him questioningly. "Hojo? Get ahold of yourself!

Another flash.

_Don't ignore what's coming to them...they can't ignore it..._

"For the gods' sakes!" Shinra shouted. "Control yourself, man! Think about it. Do you remember? Twenty years ago-"

"_If you'd please_," Hojo suddenly bit out, glaring at the President. "Do not speak of that."

As he studied the papers even closer, and peered at the photograph of the woman, Shinra whistled, and laughed. "My, she turned out to be a real beauty," he murmured. "Has to be, yes, twenty two years old, now. And with a name. Aeris. Hmm. Lovely." His eyes shifted to the bottom of the paper, to a portion he had obviously skipped earlier. "Huh. It says here she's in SOLDIER. What the hell would she be doing there? Says she's been in it for three years. Most interesting. I wonder where she was before that? I wonder who her safe-keeper was? If they knew about her? So many questions!" he outburst, shaking his head. "But I will find the answers to them, in time."

Hojo stood by, watching silently, waiting, like a predator for his prey. "Shall I arrange for her to be brought to my lab?" he asked at last, sensing the anxiety that was pouring from the President as freely as a waterfall.

"Yes, absolutely," Shinra responded, nodding his head, returning from an intense session of deep thought. "I will arrange a meeting as soon as possible, within the next hour. We shall discuss everything, and be certain we are chasing a reachable goal."

"Your decision rests well with me," Hojo said, inwardly very pleased. He gathered the papers in a rush, and again, tucked them under his arm. "I only hope this meeting of yours you insist on having is completed before six this morning. Otherwise, all hope is lost."

"Oh, all hope will be _restored_, if I have anything to do with it." the President called to him as the professor headed for the stairs.

No sooner had Hojo disappeared down the stairwell then he came back up, walking backwards, scowling in front of him, down the steps. "What the hell are _you_ doing here?" he was demanding.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

He had been standing at the base of the stairs for little more than a few moments. And yet, he had heard all he needed to hear.

"You're thinking of capturing the girl," Sephiroth said while climbing the stairs, ignoring Hojo completely as if the professor were little more than a decorative statue.

"General!" Shinra exclaimed when he caught sight of Sephiroth. "What an unexpected pleasure. What brings you here in the middle of the night?"

Sephiroth gradually sauntered over to the desk, his arms crossed casually below his chest. He stood silent for a moment, and tucked a stray lock of silver hair behind his ear. A smirk appeared on his face, and he fixed the President with a malevolent, all-knowing stare. "Don't play games with me, Your Highness. Unless of course, you'd prefer to win the one you're playing right now."

Shinra raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"  
"You're thinking of capturing her," Sephiroth repeated, his emerald eyes aflame, and his mouth still twisted into an evil smile.

"What business is it of yours if we are?" Hojo suddenly demanded, glaring at the General.

Sephiroth turned his head to regard the professor, but the expression on his face did not change, making Hojo all the more infuriated.

"Wipe that stupid smile off your face," Hojo insisted. "This is scientific business, you've no place-"

"Hold on a moment, Professor," Shinra said, holding up his hand and sweeping it in Sephiroth's direction. "If General Sephiroth feels he has something he can contribute to our affairs, then he is welcome to offer whatever assistance he deems necessary."

Hojo scowled all the more, but did not leave the room.

"Now, General," Shinra said, "You were saying?"

Sephiroth savored the bit of superiority he had over the abominable professor, but only held his silence for a brief moment. "Your meeting. Discussing the capture of this girl. Why must you capture her now?"

Shinra regarded him with an air of interest. He had figured out, of course, that Sephiroth had undoubtedly overheard the entire conversation. But this was commonplace; the general had a habit of wandering into a room at the right time, seemingly by accident. And he undoubtedly had a trove of knowledge locked up within him from his fortunate encounters with eavesdropping. What fascinated Shinra now was that Sephiroth was actually taking an active interest in what he had overheard, and not carrying on with business as usual as if nothing had happened.

"Why must we capture her now?" Shinra repeated, and pretended to consider it, while scratching his chin and staring at the ceiling. "Hmm. I could answer that, but I'm assuming I don't really need to. You already have an answer. So let's hear it."

Sephiroth smiled again, his eyes glittering. He then turned and began to pace the length of the room, his head bowed in thought.

"If you were to take her into captivity immediately," he began, "That would be quite a mess to clean up. Think of the chaos this girl's family will unleash. It would be…pandemonium at its finest, with countless loose ends left untied."

Shinra, a smile now on his lips, fixed his eyes on the General. "That is all very true. So what do you have in mind?"

"Simple. Let her go," came Sephiroth's reply.

"This is preposterous! A waste of a marvelous opportunity, thrown away without a second thought! Madness, its-"

"Enough," Shinra snapped. He glared at Hojo, and then peered at Sephiroth, as if from a very great distance. "I'm afraid I don't catch your drift."

Sephiroth stopped his pacing and stared wholeheartedly into the President's eyes. "Let her go, out on the streets, but don't let her get too far. Be certain that the records read that she was released without question. Even allow her to meet a few people she knows, let her give them a false illusion. Let her return to her normal life. So when you capture her, it will really seem like an accident.

"Shinra will claim no affiliation, having the evidence that she was released. She will be classified as AWOL. The witnesses she sees will support the evidence that she was outside the building when she evidently disappeared. You rush to hold your meeting, thinking she will slip through your fingers. But if you have too strong a grip on her, she _will _slide through your fingers."

Shinra sat still for a moment, his eyes distant, as if he were playing the entire scenario out in his head. "Brilliant," he said at last. "Absolutely brilliant. Glad you were here to overhear, General. I will inform the Turks that they have a new assignment: To secure this girl."

Sephiroth grinned wickedly. "Oh no. I was hoping I would be the one to do it."

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End file.
